Gibbons, Wade
About Gibbons, Wade
Gibbons, Wade is a forestry consulting business in Elizabethtown, Illinois. They work with landowners on managing their property for timber, wildlife, looks, and enjoyment. They have been in the field for 21 years. They serve all of Southern Illinois and Western Kentucky, and their listed county is Hardin. Their work covers timber sales and marketing, forest management plans, forest stand improvement, forestry appraisals, invasive species control, and tree plantation thinning. Oak is the species they name. On a sale, the trees to come down are marked with an orange dot at chest height, and the board feet are worked out for each species. The sale goes out to at least 50 sawmills and timber buyers as an "Invitation to Bid on Standing Timber." After the bids are opened, a contract spells out the sale. The landowner is paid before any trees are cut. Then the firm oversees the logging, checks that only marked trees come down and that the cleanup is done, and holds a performance bond to make sure the contract is kept. They say they "only represent landowners" and do not buy timber. Their appraisals rest on what they believe the timber is worth, based on their knowledge of the markets. This suits an oak owner who wants a forester working only for them to run the bidding and watch the logging. From gibbonsforestry.com, read 10 October 2026.
Can they handle a timber sale?
Selling standing timber properly takes three things. Here's what the state register credits this firm with.
Timber AppraisalAn estimate of what your standing timber is worth in dollars, based on how much there is, its quality, and current prices. When you are selling, settling an estate, dividing property, or need a value for taxes or insurance.What does this mean? → — not listed
works out what your standing timber is worth
Timber Cruise & Volume EstimateA field measurement of your standing trees — their species, sizes, and quality — that adds up to how much wood you actually have. Before you sell, so you go in knowing roughly what is out there rather than taking a buyer's word for it.What does this mean? → — not listed
measures and grades what's actually out there
Timber Sale & Contract AdministrationRunning the sale for you: advertising the timber, taking bids, writing the contract, and overseeing the logging so the agreed terms are met. When you want someone on your side handling the whole sale rather than dealing with buyers and loggers yourself.What does this mean? → — not listed
runs the sale and handles the contract
This firm isn't credited with all three, which doesn't make it a worse forester — plenty specialise in management planning, wildlife or wetlands. It does mean that if your goal is to sell timber, you'd likely need someone else for the part that's missing.
Everything they're registered for
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Gibbons, Wade
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